Hacker

Most Canadians speak with a distinctively American Accent, as opposed to British. Some Provinces do compare with a few Norther States of the US, but it is still a decidedly common way of speaking. Additionally, 'College' is common colloquial American for any study beyond High School, including University. The US has a diversity of dialects, North to South and East to West.

Summary: the goofs based on not sounding Canadian are in themselves goofs.

The movie tried to portray how a life of a typical hacker would be with the usual suspects: a migrant who is rationally sleeping till a turning point in his family's life pops us which is generally related to finance. The usual suspects suddenly decides to awaken his sleeping cyborg and decides to be utilitarian just to end up in an existential circle. Also, it doesn't really reflect the mind of a hacker but rather a mind of someone who wants to get rich and regret later. Most of the hackers fight for a cause and they wouldn't back up. There are scenes in the movie that depict a hacker as being someone who rushes in his decisions and is not proactive about what would happen and does not assess the current situation on the spot in which the movie failed to give a close-to-reality snap on how a hacker react and assess a risk.

It's rare to find a film, as unheard of and made for such a low budget as 'Hacker' was, be made with such a high degree of quality. From the opening moments it was clear this movie was going to be told with a lot of class. I suppose a film subject like hacking really wouldn't seem right told any other way. Still, that doesn't make it any easier to achieve.

The thing that probably surprised me the most about the film was how good the acting was. Callan McAuliffe in particular in the lead role was an absolute delight to watch go about his craft. A reasonable amount of the film was narrated by him too and not since Morgan Freeman in 'The Shawshank Redemption' can I remember such an ideal voice for such a thing. Daniel Eric Gold also thoroughly impressed me and I think it's fair to say there wasn't a weak link in the entire cast.

'Hacker' was a really fun watch. The pacing is terrific. It glides effortlessly from scene to scene and there is always plenty going on to keep the viewer entertained. The story structuring was also very well handled and the film ended in a very clever and interesting way. Altogether I was very impressed by 'Hacker' and would thoroughly recommend people to check it out.

While the acting and dialogue was solid, this rather cliché and moralistic tale may leave some people with a sour taste in their mouth.

It may leave an even worse after-taste when the (totally private) "Federal Reserve" banking system, becomes its own bubble and then bursts, which is something that appears to have been building in the wake of the mortgage-bubble lead financial meltdown. If indeed these predictions are correct, and a worldwide economic collapse of far greater magnitude ensues, the US citizens will probably be told that it was all due to "Russia", "China", and "Hackers operating out of Russia and China...who may be on their respective government's payroll".

I listen to people who actually know what they're talking about and not talking heads with vested interests, so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to smell the faint aroma of economic propaganda (or a "contingency story" for mass consumption), which may become stronger in the years to come if these economic predictions are correct.

Just some food for thought.

However, I digress. On with the review!

Why should I give this film a better-than-average rating when the plot was weak and the main protagonist knew less about protecting their online anonymity than I do? Well, to answer that question I should say that "social engineering" is also considered a valid form of hacking. People are always the weakest point in any system, hence they are the easiest way to bypass security without having to force your way through from behind a computer.

Even with the most sophisticated of proxies and other counter-measures, there is no way to ensure something won't be traced back to you online, just as there is no assurances of remaining unrecognized IRL on a camera, even with a disguise; The latter just happens to be far more efficient, and can often be achieved by using real-life proxies to do your data-collection.

The more real life proxies that are distributing the original data in a non-pyramid/linear, distributed fashion, the less chance of one person being caught as the "ring leader", which is the exact same principle one uses when using an online proxy network. The fact they did funnel information from proxies in bottom up fashion was certainly a major security flaw that would have easily have had them nabbed for credit card fraud under normal circumstances.

If you're into the guts of how people hack from behind a keyboard, then this movie is not for you...but if you want to see a totally different type of hacking at work (predominantly social engineering), you may get something out of this film in spite of its pitfalls.

I like a good hacker movie. This starts brilliantly - but goes nowhere and flounders around like a, er, flounder in a floundering thing.

As others have said, it's not so much about hacking as about scamming. It's full of very poor research and just plain wrong technical stuff. Sigh.

That there's 'something off' is so obvious but the characters don't twig. Uh oh... Dummies! Oh, and the film summary itself gives half the game away.

Apart from that, the plot just did't hang together.

Writer/director - uh oh....

He tries to bring in a character arc where the protagonist learns the errors of his ways but, heck, it's enforced, not realistic given the character and, well, total dumbbells.

Add a terrible, contrived unrealistic and dumb ending and you've got a so-so movie for people who don't know Windows from door frames - no, strike that - for people who are still looking for the Any Key!

Yup, I'll say it again - Writer/director - uh oh....